Recipes By Daniela Galarza
12 recipes found
Mangonada
When the summer sun screams across Mexico’s city streets and sandy beaches, mangonadas come to the rescue. Also called chamangos, they can be made with any combination of mango sorbet, chopped fresh mango or mango purée, and may or may not be spiked, but they’ll always contain the salty, spicy and tangy flavors of Tajín and chamoy. Tajín, a chile-lime salt, is a delicious addition to sweet and savory foods alike. Its sister condiment, chamoy, is traditionally made from fermented fruit, salt, sugar and chiles. Depending on your location, you can find Tajín, chamoy and tamarind straws — their sour, chewy coating adds an extra tickle of tartness — at supermarkets or Latin American grocers; all three are available online.
Festival
According to Helen Willinsky, author of “Jerk From Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style” (Ten Speed Press, 2007), festival is a relatively new entry into the Jamaican culinary canon, “but it is already a must.” A cousin of cornbread and hush puppies, festival is a fluffy yet crisp cornmeal-based fritter that is often seasoned with nutmeg or vanilla, then shaped into “fingers” or long buns and fried. (To make them vegan, substitute an equal quantity of full-fat coconut milk for the whole milk.) A touch of nutmeg adds warmth, and salt balances and enhances the sweetness of the corn. Serve festival with jerk chicken, ribs or fish.
Pastelitos (Guava and Cream Cheese Pastries)
In Havana — and in Cuban neighborhoods across the U.S. — pastry shops make many types of cakes and cookies, but the best-sellers are always the pastels and pastelitos, flaky pastries filled with meat, cheese, coconut custard or guava jam. According to “Paladares: Recipes from the Private Restaurants, Home Kitchens, and Streets of Cuba” by Anya von Bremzen (Abrams, 2017), the shape of the pastel correlates with the filling: Triangular pastels are filled with guava paste and cheese, while rectangular ones are filled with just guava. Versailles, a Cuban restaurant in Miami, follows this rule, but at home, just make them rectangular, and add a swipe of cream cheese if desired. You can find guava paste in bricks at Latin American grocers, or swap in about 1/2 cup jam or preserves for a nontraditional take.
Japanese Soufflé Pancakes
Japanese soufflé pancakes start with the same ingredients as American varieties — namely, eggs, flour and milk — but they tower above traditional diner versions thanks to the addition of extra egg whites. A meringue mixture is beaten to stiff peaks, then folded into the batter, which cooks directly in metal pastry rings to help the pancakes attain their distinctive height. The key is to cook the batter at a very low temperature. If your stove has a small burner, or an especially low heat setting, use it here to create these custardy pancakes, worthy of breakfast, an afternoon snack or even dessert.
Ube Pie
Ube, a purple yam native to the Asian tropics, is a common ingredient in Filipino desserts. It’s no surprise that colorful dishes made with ube have done well on Instagram, prompting the invention of drinks, custards, cakes and sweet breads in cities across the United States. This recipe is adapted from Café 86 in Artesia, Calif., where co-owner Ginger Dimapasok serves an ube chess pie that’s particularly popular around Thanksgiving. The earthy, vanilla flavor of the yam adds color and depth to the sweet, buttery filling. You can find frozen mashed ube — and ube flavoring, which ensures a deep purple hue — at Filipino markets. Okinawa sweet potatoes, or Japanese purple sweet potatoes, can also be substituted.
Pastelón
Pastelón is a layered Puerto Rican casserole of plantains, cheese and picadillo, a tomato-based ground beef mixture seasoned with onions, peppers, herbs and spices. The dish is often referred to as Puerto Rican lasagna, and to say there is only one real recipe for pastelón would be like saying there’s only one true lasagna. Variations abound! Some cooks boil the plantains and make a mash with taro; others fry them until they’re sweet and crisp. Nearly any mild, meltable cheese may be used, though there is debate over whether or not to add raisins. This recipe is adapted from from Natalia Vallejo, chef and owner of Cocina al Fondo in Santurce, Puerto Rico. She doesn’t serve pastelón at her restaurant, but she grew up eating it. Her version includes fried plantains, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and raisins, because she says “Puerto Ricans like that sweet-and-salty mix.”
Coquito
Coquito, which means “little coconut” in Spanish, is an eggnog-like mixture of coconut milk, eggs, sweetened condensed milk and rum or pitorro, a sort of moonshine rum. Coconut and rum cocktails are made throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, but coquito is unique to Puerto Rico. This recipe, which is adapted from the 1975 cookbook “Puerto Rican Cookery” by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli, was created by her husband, who tended bar during the couple’s holiday parties at their home in San Juan. His recipe calls for shelling and pressing fresh coconuts to make your own coconut cream, but canned coconut cream makes an excellent substitute.
Chez Ma Tante’s Pancakes
At the Brooklyn restaurant Chez Ma Tante, the brunch pancakes come two to an order, big as dessert plates and almost burnt. “I knew I wanted them to be really, really crispy,” said the chef de cuisine Jake Leiber. He was inspired by a fairly straightforward pancake recipe made with bacon fat he found in “How America Eats,” the seminal cookbook by Clementine Paddleford, an American food historian. Mr. Leiber swaps the lard for butter, adds an extra egg yolk to his batter, cranks up the heat on his vintage cast-iron skillet, then pours in an outrageous amount of melted clarified butter. Fried in shallow pools of hot fat, each pancake gets fritter-like crisped edges. Mr. Leiber serves them with more butter, and glugs of maple syrup.
Strawberry Granola
Studded with pink freeze-dried strawberries and lightly spiced, this strawberry granola makes for a perky start to the day or a fruity afternoon snack, especially when paired with yogurt or milk. First, roast oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and coconut chips in a sweet syrup before mixing with crisp freeze-dried strawberries. Optional red-pepper flakes add a pleasant whisper of warmth, and play well with the strawberries and coconut. Feel free to substitute cashews or hazelnuts for the almonds, and omit the coconut chips if you don’t have them in the pantry. The resulting granola will still be full of flavor and crunch.
Khachapuri Adjaruli (Georgian Cheese Bread Boat)
There are many different styles of khachapuri, the signature stuffed cheese bread of Georgia, but most are made by wrapping a pile of cheese in a round of dough, then baking until the cheese is molten. The most famous khachapuri is from Adjara, a region of Georgia on the Black Sea. It’s an open-faced, boat-shaped loaf that’s often served with an egg yolk and a slice of butter to stir in at the table. Traditionally, tangy imeruli and sulguni cheeses are used, but they are difficult to find in the U.S. This recipe, which is adapted from “Georgian Khachapuri and Filled Breads” by Carla Capalbo (Pallas Athene Publishers, 2018), uses a blend of mozzarella, feta and goat cheese.
Khoresh Karafs (Persian Celery Stew With Lamb)
Most types of Iranian stew, known as khoresh or sometimes spelled khoresht, take hours to prepare and yet more hours to cook. Not this one. Karafs means celery, so here a whole head of crunchy, pale green stalks and two bunches of herbs simmer alongside lamb (or beef) for just under an hour. The sweet flavor of caramelized onions provides the base note to a funky green broth tarted up with lime and lemon. Seasoned with turmeric and saffron, the stew takes on a golden hue. A shallot, sliced and fried until crisp, makes a fine garnish, but is optional. Not optional: a side of buttery steamed rice.
Khao Soi Gai (Northern Thai Coconut-Curry Noodles With Chicken)
You’ll find khao soi, a deeply fragrant, coconut milk-based stew, throughout Southeast Asia, but the dish is a specialty of Chiang Mai, a city in Northern Thailand. Chicken is simmered in a creamy, spicy-sweet broth, then served over boiled egg noodles and garnished with crunchy fried noodles. (When made with beef, the dish is called khao soi nuea.) This version is adapted from Noree Thai, a restaurant in Los Angeles, which Noree Pla owns with her partner, the chef Fern Kaewtathip. Ms. Pla serves the khao soi she learned from her mother, which requires more than a dozen ingredients, but once you have the ingredients prepared, the dish comes together in less than an hour. For a lighter broth, use about half of the curry paste; for a more pungent khao soi, use it all.